Design Wall Wednesday, Again

Did you ever stop to wonder how many mistakes a designer makes before pulling together a project that is ready to share in the form of a pattern?  The answer is LOTS.

This photo is of the generous size table runner that I planned to make for my kitchen island.  I make lots of runners, but they are on the skimpy side for an island that can handle a 5 burner cook top and still have room for 4 extra large pizza boxes.  We hosted a ton of parties when our youngest was in high school and that island has seen a mountain of pizza.  Now that the kids are out of the house I decided that a generous size runner that could double as placemats for the 2 chairs that sit at that island was in order.

It seemed like the perfect project for the Triangle in a Square projects that I have been working on.  I decided that I would use batik scraps from Timeless Treasures - who wouldn't want to have breakfast on a batik runner?  I chopped up the scraps and arranged the triangles and half rectangles like this.

Then the sewing began.  I had another project to finish, and being the super efficient person that I am (no snickering), I decide that I would sew them both at the same time.  I used the table runner units as "thread bunnies", stitching one seam after I completed each row for the other project so that something was always under my needle.  That way I could finish the required project and have my table runner well underway when the required project was finished.

Probably not a good idea.

The table runner pieces are stitched into blocks, then those blocks are cut into strips and re-assembled.  The re-assembly process flips the block around.  I had to remember to swap the colors on each side so that they reversed themselves into the proper position and would be where I wanted them in the final assembly.  Confusing?  You bet'cha!  It could have been the riveting finale to Design Star that I was watching on my laptop that had me distracted, but whoa-baby were there mistakes!

The first 2 rows went together with minor mistakes. I caught those before slicing the blocks apart.  Row three was a disaster!  That is when I decided that having all of the rectangles the same color was a much better idea.  If I am totally confused by row three and I am writing the instructions, how can I expect those of you that buy the pattern to figure it out?  I do have to consider that you won't be distracted by Vern Yip falling in love with an ugly yurt and selecting the wrong person to have her own show on HGTV, but you could be subject to other distractions.  Seriously, we sew for fun and relaxation, not because we are studying to be brain surgeons - unless you are currently in med school.....

I did manage to "fix" the disjointed issue that I normally see in this Magic Lantern block and create a table runner that is sized to make a statement.  Once I didn't have to flip, reverse, rotate and stand on my head to get the fabrics in the right place it was a lot of fun too!